It’s No Blowout, so Dodgers Will Take It

What offensive struggle?

The Dodgers poured across solo runs in the sixth and eighth innings Wednesday night and defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, on a three-hitter by Ramon Martinez, Mark Guthrie and Todd Worrell.

A Dodger Stadium crowd of 30,434 saw the Dodgers salvage the finale of a 2-3 home stand, during which they scored only eight runs in the last four games.

They had lost three in a row before run-producing singles by Mike Piazza and Raul Mondesi were enough to defeat the Cardinals on a blustery night.

It wasn’t easy.

Worrell, who couldn’t hold a 4-3 lead and gave up three runs in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s 6-4 loss, gave up a one-out single to Gary Gaetti, the first batter he faced in the ninth inning of this one, but then struck out John Mabry and got Ron Gant on a towering fly to left after pinch-runner Steve Scarsone had stolen second.

“I pitched to the strength of the park tonight,” Worrell said. “If the wind hadn’t been blowing in, that ball might have gone out.”

Worrell’s sixth save preserved the win for Guthrie, who did not give up a hit in 1 1/3 innings after Martinez pitched a brilliant seven.

He struck out nine, walked three and did not give up a hit between a two-out homer by Ray Lankford in the first and a one-out single by Lankford in the sixth.

St. Louis starter Todd Stottlemyre was comparably effective, scattering six hits over seven innings, but he is as familiar with poor run support as are the Dodger starters. This was the 13th time in 19 games the Cardinals have scored two runs or fewer, and Stottlemyre has been gifted with only 10 in his five starts.

Having altered his batting order Tuesday night in an attempt to shake the Dodgers out of their offensive lethargy, Manager Bill Russell went with the same order: Piazza batting third, Eric Karros fourth and Mondesi fifth.

“I thought we did a lot of good things last night,” Russell said before Wednesday’s game.

“Ten hits, four runs, a lot of running. I’m not saying we won’t change again, but we’ll stay with it tonight.

“There’s not a lot of things we can do anyway.”

There was not a lot the Dodgers did until tying the game, 1-1, in the sixth on a single by Brett Butler, who has hit in eight games in a row and is batting .358, a Greg Gagne sacrifice and a single to right-center by Piazza, who had again proved to be an immovable object in the St. Louis half of the inning.

The Cardinals mounted a one-out threat on a walk to Dmitri Young and a single by Lankford. Gaetti forced Lankford, putting Young on third with Mabry at the plate. The Cardinals then tried a delayed steal, with Young breaking for the plate after Piazza threw to second, where Gagne cut it off and fired back to Piazza, who ended up on his back but withstood the collision with the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Young, holding onto the ball for the third out.

Martinez, who has given up only two earned runs in the 20 1/3 innings of his last three starts, left for a pinch-hitter in the seventh after Wilton Guerrero flared a two-out single to left, but Nelson Liriano grounded out, leaving another Dodger starter with little to show for an outstanding effort.

Thus, it was still 1-1 in the eighth when, with one out and Mark Petkovsek pitching, Gagne raised his hitting streak to nine games with a double into the right-field corner, Piazza was walked intentionally and Karros drew an unintentional walk to load the bases.

Mondesi was then down, 1-and-2, when he displayed the discipline he had not been showing as the No. 3 hitter. He took two breaking balls that were narrowly outside to run the count full, then singled sharply to left to score Gagne with the run that proved decisive.

“That’s the kind of maturity we’ve been looking for from Raul,” Russell said.

The Dodgers had a chance to break it open, but Todd Hollandsworth struck out and Todd Zeile grounded out, ending a hitless night at .143.

Guthrie and Worrell made the slim lead stand up, and now the Dodgers go on the road, where they have averaged .321 this season--seemingly more at home than at home.